Opinion page editor Rick Holmes and other writers blog about national politics and issues. Holmes & Co. is a Blog for Independent Minds, a place for a free-flowing discussion of policy, news and opinion. This blog is the online cousin of the Opinion
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Opinion page editor Rick Holmes and other writers blog about national politics and issues. Holmes & Co. is a Blog for Independent Minds, a place for a free-flowing discussion of policy, news and opinion. This blog is the online cousin of the Opinion section of the MetroWest Daily News in Framingham, Mass. As such, our focus starts there and spreads to include Massachusetts, the nation and the world. Since successful blogs create communities of readers and writers, we hope the \x34& Co.\x34 will also come to include you.

I’ve actually done quite a bit of post graduate study in the cosmological implications of baseball base path rules and practices as they relate to the space time continuum. (Meaning that: I’ve watched my share of baseball since I got out of high school.) Thus it is, I feel I must share my observation vis a vis last night’s fateful ninth inning call in Game Three of The World Series.
To begin with a concise summary, I would have to observe the call was, in a word, bullshit.
The winning run was awarded St Louis on the call that the Red Sox third baseman, Will Middlebrooks obstructed the runner on the play. He could be tagged out at the plate by a mile (and he was) —no matter— he could have strolled home a shook the catcher’s hand. He’d been obstructed with. The Red Sox player had dived to bring in an errant throw and the St. Louis player, Allen Craig tripped over him. Here’s the problem though: The only reason Craig tripped on Middlebrooks is because he actually didn’t properly touch third base. He slid into third and then stood, still in the path between second and third, as the ball got away he proceeded directly towards home not touching the third base bag.
The umpires and Joe Torre (of all people) explained the call after the game, their contention being that the runner had the right to unobstructed travel, ignoring the fact that he did, if he’d only been willing to head home via third base!
Ah, well.
Dustin Pedroia, whose dazzling play had seemed to save the game for the Sox only seconds before, has the right notion: Four simple words: “This won’t stop us.”